As you know, Easter Holidays to us are just like normal days – but in the holidays all our clubs stop. Plus, everything’s busy, so we can’t go to theme parks or anything, so we tend to use them for going on sleepovers, or fitting some work in before they end. So it’s reverse to us – for schoolchildren, holidays are great and school days are boring, for us, holidays are boring with nothing to do and school days are brilliantic.
But of course, who would name the holidays ‘the Easter Holidays‘ when it doesn’t have Easter involved? That’s the main best thing when the schoolchildren are hogging the parks and playareas. We still have Easter to look after us, to take us into its warm chocolate arms, and nestle us on its relaxed chocolate knees. Nanny comes round with great big eggs surrounded with choccies, and hunts are placed around the house with prizes at the end. Even without trying to, you accidentally find a clue underneath the eggs, and secretively go around the hunt until you find your sister’s chocolate at the end. And then you have a barbeque and get to stay up later than usual. That’s the good in the Easter Holidays.
If you look back on my previous posts, you may see, though, that these holidays were taken up by lots of fun drama. So much drama that I think even I am kind of tired! But that’s not all. I’ve had sleepovers, playdates, and fun days at home, too. Nobody can stop the world of children and their ways of – well, sugar. But mainly the pleasant entertaining they get, with all their lively trips and things. So, if you’re an adult and have a timeturner, go back not to the Victorian times, or the role of Henry II and Thomas Becket, but to when you were a child. Strange, but good, advice.
Wonderful Wrest Park
We went to Wrest Park a lot this Easter. We met Caitlin, Scarlett and Eden there and we played with Matilda’s friend Eleanor, who came too. We made a little film where we were survivors in the woods. It was really fun! We went inside the mansion, too. Another time, Evie and Annie and Gracie came round, and we went there to play again. Here’s what we did.
The Sleepover of Delight
I had a sleepover with Niamh! It was ultra fun. First we met up at her house, where Tilly and Katie (for Tilly was going back with Katie afterwards) played hide-and-seek with Sienna, I went off and played with Niamh, and Tyler played with some lego we lent him. I taught Niamh the dance moves to a song, which she and I found really fun. We got up to the second part in it and then went off to go on the trampoline.
When Mummy, Katie, and Tilly left, we wrote down a list of things to do. Then we made some triple chocolate cookies and by the time I got home the next day they were all gone! We did some more ‘playing on the trampoline’ and got into our pyjamas. We kept going in and out in our onesies, not caring whether anybody were staring at us thinking, what kind of nut-crackers… or not.
We read each other stories, played Mums and Dads with Sienna, and then we had a delicious dinner of bacon, beans, eggs and toast. At ten past ten (eek!) we got into bed tried to fall asleep – but we didn’t until half eleven 😉 We slept until half three-fourish and then woke up. After that, at about five, we fell back to a long coma until – yes, you guessed it – six a.m.! We then went on the trampoline, chatted, danced, and finally crept into the bath with bikinis to wash our hair and bodies. It took two hours (wink wink!) to get it done, and that’s minimum! It took around twenty minutes to fill the bath up, and then we felt like waiting another forty before applying shampoo.
So anyways. Once we had – eventually – finished the bath, we went down for a tasty breakfast, I packed my bag, and we set off to a really brilliant park to meet Mummy. It was a great one with lots of eqipment, but it was so loud! All the kids had come to the amazing area for the holidays, and never stopped shouting, chatting, mumbling, screeching and oh! the noise put together! They were mainly okay, but there was one particularly rude and ignorant little boy who wouldn’t let us get down to the slide. He simply put his foot there and said ‘no’ whenever I said ‘excuse me’. Niamh, being on the other side, couldn’t do much but try to shove his leg off, which didn’t work for either of us; but then I called down to these ladies below to get him off and guess what his first excuse was?
- Excuse 1: ‘She [here he pointed at Niamh] wouldn’t let me get down!’
- ‘Ahem! [I cry]. She was saying, “Here, go down the slide if you want”! Utter nonsense, if you ask me!’
- Excuse 2: ‘I was trying to get out at the entrance, then!’
- ‘Then why, may I ask [I ushered his leg but he stood his ground], did you have your leg up, completely blocking our way of escape?’
- ‘Shut yer mouth! Huh.’
Then the ladies talked him into moving, and by that time it was nearly time to go. I had a really fun and exciting time; I hope we can go back again on a schoolday so that we have it to ourselves 😉
Peterborough
On Sunday, we went to Peterborough to do some shopping. We met up with Katie, Tilly and Liv-Astrid. We wandered around the centre and bought some chocolates and sweetie necklaces (collier de bonbons in French; we bought them in Nice). Katie very kindly gave me £3, and I gave William £1. Liv-Astrid brought her own money, so we had enough to buy a friendship necklace each. Then we had a look in Peterborough Cathedral.
The cathedral used to be part of the monastery. It was built by the Saxons, and burnt down by the Vikings; then it was built again, and burnt down again; and finally, the current building was built in Norman times, which makes it about nine hundred years old. It is very Gothic. It’s got ribbed vaults, pointed arches, and a beautiful fan vaulted ceiling in one part. As soon as you walked in, there was a large statue of Jesus on the cross hanging from the ceiling. There were rows of seats and candles everywhere. It was very pretty, and kind of haunted-looking from the outside 😉 It wasn’t as good as Notre Dame, but it was still quite cool.
Apparently, it used to contain King Oswald’s arm, and a bit of bloody shirt from Thomas Becket, a bit of bloody stone from the alter where he was killed, and some bloody pots of his blood. This was because the person who put them there, who was the Prior of Canterbury Cathedral when Becket was murdered, got promoted to Abbot of Peterborough, and brought them with him when he came. People used to pay lots of money to see the relics, and it was a very rich monastery in Medieval times.